It's Gotten Old
by Danae Dixon
Summary: Seems like SG-1 are just used to this kind of thing by now... "Threads" extended scene.


**Characters:** O'Neill, Carter, Daniel, Teal'c, Bra'tac

**Takes Place:** Towards the end of _Threads _(missing scene)

**Spoilers: **Season 8,_Threads (8.18)_

**Author's Note: **Poor Daniel. Missing for over a week, back from the (presumed) dead, _naked_, and it doesn't even warrant his best friends getting up from their chairs? They must just be used to it by now...

No copyright infringement blah blah blah. You know the drill.

**It's Gotten Old**

"Ya think?" Colonel Samantha Carter leaned in toward her CO, Brigadier General Jack O'Neill, eyes fixed on his face. There was no sarcasm in her question, despite the familiar wording; she was merely seeking his support of her own, perhaps wishful, thinking. The debrief on events at Jaffa Central the previous day seemed to give her cause for it.

"I do," he replied, with simple faith.

"It's the only thing that would explain the self-destruct not going off." Carter continued, not sure if she was truly convinced of this, or trying to convince herself. O'Neill's gaze lingered on Sam's, and they were quite lost to everything else for a long moment.

"Of what do you speak?" the Jaffa Master Bra'tac asked, breaking their trance, puzzled by the short-hand communication that SG-1 had long-since come to take for granted amongst themselves.

"O'Neill believes that Daniel Jackson is somehow responsible," Teal'c informed his mentor, golden forehead stamp of a First Prime shining under the flourescent light of the conference room, an exact match to the older man's.

It was true. O'Neill did. The day before, the practically omnipotent sideshow freak that was the half-Ascended, completely-crazy Goa'uld/Ancient hybrid, Anubis, had almost succeeded in erasing all life from the Milky Way – beginning with all that on Earth. He'd _almost_ succeeded... and then had just... stopped. Just like that. Of _course_ Daniel was responsible! Considering the archaeologist's penchant for causing trouble – especially in the ranks of those damned glowy, over-evolved beings that called themselved the Ascended – it was only natural to assume that he'd done _something _that had saved their collective asses.

Oh, sure, it was_ possible_ that Daniel hadn't been in the mix on this one; it was even possiblethat he really was dead this time, as Carter'd had the temerity to imply.

Possible, but unlikely. More likely he'd simply annoyed Anubis to death.

"Nope. It wasn't me." A disembodied voice spoke up. They all looked around; it had seemed to come from inside the General's office.

"Did anybody else hear that?" The General looked at Carter for reassurance that he wasn't going a little crazy, Anubis-style, himself. She nodded, eyes widening.

"I'm in here!" the voice was less disembodied this time, and entirely recognizable.

"That's Daniel." O'Neill told Carter, sharing this moment of certainty with her. He stood up from the conference table in one fluid movement, and hurried to investigate. Reaching the doorway to his office, he flinched back, as though struck.

"No, don't come in!" Daniel's voice protested strongly.

"Woah! Hey, there!" O'Neill exclaimed, sounding pleased to see his friend, but looking decidedly uncomfortable. Eyes darting around, he briefly pondered the large American flag standing sentry by his door, before deciding that the SGC banner opposite it would be a better choice. Hastily pulling it down, he passed it through the doorway.

A moment later, Daniel emerged, clad in the banner... and only the banner. "Its a... long story," he said, somewhat sheepishly.

Sam's eyes met Jack's. He was fidgeting, trying to pretend he wasn't standing within a few feet of a very naked Daniel, but no amount of manly discomfort could hide the relief that she knew was echoed in her own eyes. Her best friend was back! _Their _best friend was back. Back from the dead!

Um. Again.

"Walter!" the General barked, and Master Sargeant Harriman ducked a head in the door. "Yes, s—" he broke off at the sight of the resurrected Daniel. "Uh. Yes, sir?"

"Find some clothes for Ascension Ken, will ya?"

As Walter ran off to do the General's bidding – and, no doubt, to spread the word of the bare-assed return of one Dr. Daniel Jackson, while finding out who had the won the betting pool – Sam gave herself a mental slap on the forehead. _We haven't heard from him in a week! _Her fatalistic words of a few days earlier echoed in her head. What _had _she been thinking? She should have known better than to even consider holding a memorial service for him, merely because he'd been aboard a Replicator ship when it had disintegrated. Missing for a week in Daniel-time was like anyone else being five minutes late.

"I'm not falling for it this time," General O'Neill had told her starkly, when she'd broached the topic of the MIA Daniel. "How many times have you thought he was gone, and then, he shows up... in one form or another?" That was a good point. Sam had lost count.

And here he was again, their very own indestructible action hero, looking none the worse for wear—though missing some Air Force property in the form of his BDUs. Sam was flooded with a feeling of relief and peace that had eluded her since her father's death a few days earlier. Although, even the death of her father had taken on an almost Daniel-worthy sense of unreality, since he had survived more than one brush with imminent demise himself; most particularly, when his terminal illness had been cured through allowing the Tok'ra symbiote, Selmak, to take up residence in his body.

"Hi, Daniel," she said with careless affection, the shadow of Jacob Carter's recent passing lifting momentarily. She smiled directly up into his face so as not to stare at the well-developed torso she hadn't been aware was hiding under his uniform all these years.

"Sam," he smiled back. The same small smile he always gave them when he turned up safe and sound after everyone had feared – or even _known_ – the worst. Well, except for that time he hadn't remembered them at all. "Teal'c. Bra'tac."

The Jaffa warriors bowed their heads in identical greeting. "I am pleased to see you well, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c intoned matter-of-factly.

"As am I," Bra'tac agreed, and Daniel was disconcerted by the look on the old man's face. If he didn't know better, he'd call it an appreciative leer. Hmm. Creepy.

Harriman rushed into the room with an armful of olive green, two boots in one hand. "Dr. Jackson," he nodded a hello, handing them over. Daniel almost reached for them, then caught himself, realising that the SGC flag still required his assistance in covering his modesty. Not that he had a whole lot of that left.

"Ah!" Jack waved a panicky hand, and cocked a head towards his office. Harriman took the hint and carried in the BDUs, Daniel following closely behind, grousing because he wasn't going to match his team. "You couldn't have brought the blue, Walter?"

SG-1 shared knowing, yet bemused glances. This was strange! None of them were quite sure what to make of their feelings. Of course, Daniel's return was cause for celebration. They were happy and grateful for the reappearance of their teammate, friend, brother. It was just that it was all so... normal, now.

Sam wondered, should the day ever come when Daniel did not magically reappear, alive and relatively unharmed, after they had thought him gone for sure this time, whether she'd actually be able to grieve for him. Maybe she'd used up all her tears, all her sorrow, the last, oh, dozen or so times she'd had to face the prospect of a life without him. Losing Daniel had become almost routine, she realised. And so had finding him again.

General O'Neill looked at her shrewdly, following the direction of her thoughts with ease.

"I love it when I get to say this to you, Carter: I told ya so." Jack's voice held an edge of affection that sent a sigularly unprofessional shiver down her spine. _No, no time for that now! s_he admonished herself. _Daniel!_

"Yes, sir. You did," Sam acknowledged.

"So..."

"Uh huh."

"He's back."

"Yes, sir."

There was a pause as they all contemplated this miracle. But the fact was, Daniel coming back from the dead – hell, any of them coming back from the dead – didn't seem like that much of a miracle, anymore.

"It's gotten old, huh?"

"Yep," Carter nodded.

"The thrill has gone?"

"Indeed," Teal'c concurred.

"Of what do you now speak?" Bra'tac demanded.

"Of the fact that Daniel Jackson has once again defied the natural order of things and returned from the dead to live amongst us as before," Teal'c summarised.

Daniel, now fully-clothed, walked back into the room on this calm pronouncement. He looked a little put out.

"Uh... guys?" His voice was peeved. "You _do_ realise I just de-Ascended again, right?"

O'Neill nodded. "We get that."

"And while I may not personally have defeated Anubis, or stopped the self-destruct of the base—glad that happened, by the way—I did at least _contribute_ to it. Oh, and with the Replicators, too—"

"Yes, Daniel," the General's voice was indulgent. "You did very well."

"So, what? I don't even get a 'welcome back'? I mean, I did _die_, you know."

"Well..." his three best friends in the world – and one old ally who was still looking at him in a most unsettling manner – appeared as though they weren't quite sure how to tell him something.

Understanding lit in Dr. Jackson's clear blue eyes. "It's gotten old?" He quirked an eyebrow.

His fellow SG-1 members shared a glance, and chorused as one: "Indeed."


End file.
